Meeting Phantom - and an old nemesis

Ben sets up a meeting with Maria, and meets her alone, as planned. It seems to go well, as he returns with a giddy smile and good news.

"She says she wants to work with us," he beams. "Do a mission, see if she likes our group. I can be her liaison! I volunteer to make sure she knows what's going on, that she's comfortable, you know... ...And she has information - she gave me the last five places that the Contortionist is believed to have robbed."

The girls all look to you. "Sounds good to me," you nod. "Let's have it then."

Ben rattles off a list of museums, which you plot on a map. Rachel and Holly puzzle over it, trying to do what you have no doubt a team of experts back in S.P.E.R.M. is doing: find the pattern. You leave them to their puzzling, and hang out with Carly whilst she works on her bike. Inevitably she ends up blowing you, and she's just licking the batter off her lips when Mary comes to fetch you for dinner.

The three of you return to the dining room, but Mary pauses when she passes the study, images of the five museums up on the screens.

"Wow, do you guys follow Rodriguez Revels too?"

"No?" replies Holly bemusedly. The two dark-haired heroines turn from their work to look at the maid curiously. "Why?"

"Oh, you should," gushes Mary. "She always goes to see this beautiful jewellery at fancy museums all around the world. She knows so much about them, too! It's kind of educational when you think about it."

Holly raises an eyebrow, but Rachel's eyes brighten. "Are you saying she's visited all of these museums?"

"Uh, yeah!" says Mary, rolling her eyes. "That one was the Duchess's Royal Necklace. And that one was this beautiful emerald brooch, it must be worth millions..."

"Can you show us her account?" interrupts Rachel excitedly. Mary obliges, and sure enough, 'Rodriguez Revels' - an account apparently devoted to fine dining, high fashion, and exquisite jewellery - covered each of the museums exactly one week before they were robbed of the same jewellery that fills the account.

"The last museum she visited was the British Museum," says Rachel eventually. "Seven days ago. The star item - the 'Tudor Heart', this heart-shaped twenty-four carat gold pendant once owned by Henry VIII."

"Ben, call Maria," you call. "The British Museum. Tonight."

The problem with catching an elusive thief in the act of robbing the most prestigious museum in the country, is that you have to break into the most prestigious museum in the country.

First, Ben introduces Phantom to you and your accomplices.

"Pleased to meet you," you say, shaking her hand. It's small and slender, but her grip is firm. The two of you hold hands for a second too long, her chocolate brown eyes gazing into yours, before Ben clears his throat and the handshake ends.

"Alpha Man, huh," grins the Latina, looking up at your masked face. "So you're the boss, I'm guessing?"

"Definitely," grins Rachel, just as you say, "We try to make it a team effort."

"Let's focus on the task at hand," Ben clears his throat. "Sparrow?"

The telekinetic girl nods, still wearing a knowing smile, and levitates the four of you into the air, up to a second-storey window. You cling to the ledge, but don't try to open the window, knowing it is certainly alarmed.

"Phantom?" you whisper. The petite girl nods, and begins to fade, both her bare skin and translucent white outfit fading into nothing. The three of you wait for an agonising minute, before Phantom flickers back into view, on the other side of the window. She carefully prises it open. "Alarm disabled," she whispers. "And by the way, it hasn't escaped me that you guys could be lying to me about the Contortionist being here. And if you are the thieves, I will bring all of S.P.E.R.M. down on you."

"She'll be here," you say confidently. "Let's get into position."

Your vigilantes creep down the dark corridors, navigating the hastily memorized route to the Tudor Heart. It glistens in the dim light of the security sensors, beautifully enamelled gold perfectly preserved from the 15th century. You point the other three to their places, and take cover yourself, and settle in to wait, hoping that Sara Rodriguez doesn't change her habits tonight.